Traditional Anarchist

It seems that being traditional requires that all “old” traditions be upheld without question. Traditionalists stick to the rules as they are and have been and hold up the ideas of the past as being “tried and true” and worthy of continuity. A traditional person wants to keep things within the bounds of the accepted norms so they are not tainted or watered down.

We need traditionalists. If we did not have them, things would fall apart, decay and get fuzzy, and there would be nothing old to study and examine, to enjoy or appreciate. For all the people who brag about throwing things away and never hanging on to anything, we have folks to cling to what has been. Without them, museums would be pretty empty. History would be hard to find!

The anarchist wants to throw out the past, get rid of it and start fresh. The anarchist is interested in overthrowing the current ideas. You could think of the anarchist as a rebel, one who rails against stuffy old ideas that have grown rigid, stilted, and confining. An anarchist is someone who destroys what has been around too long and is ready to die and go away.

We need anarchists. Without them nothing new and exciting would ever be created. There would be no radical change, no breaking with things that have grown brittle and useless. The anarchists and rebels, railing against the status quo, are responsible for breakthroughs against all odds. We need them, too.

If, however, you value the past and the traditions it gives us but you also look to the present moment for innovation and for that which has never been before, what are you? A traditional anarchist? A rebel traditionalist? A lost and confused person with no direction?

We need to keep that which is good about the past. We need to honor it, to know it well, to study it, to become friendly with it, to learn from it and to respect it, but we also need to look at what can be better, what can be improved. We need to search for that which is fresh, dynamic, just emerging and exciting in it’s birth. There is no need to choose between the two. We can and should combine them. No one has to give up the past to be in the present or to envision the future. In fact, the more we are aware of and interested all three, the better.